Events

Deadline: April 3rd 2014 Payment: 6 cents per word You think you’re safe. What a joke. You don’t think about the places you pass every day. The side streets. The alleys. Under bridges. The shadows.  All you’d have to do is take a step to the side.  Then you’d know. From editors of Dark Faith, Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon, comesStreets of Shadows, a collection of stories at the intersection of urban fantasy and crime. These tales of the dark and magical side of the urban landscape will be published by Alliteration Ink in late summer 2014. Currently attached authors include Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Kevin J. Anderson, Tim Lebbon, Seanan McGuire, Brandon Massey, Tom Piccirilli, and Lucy A. Snyder. We’re looking for stories with depth that push the boundaries of their genres.  Stories that make you think, that comment on the human condition and the social order. Stories that are rich in their language use. Stories that entertain and thrill.  Stories between 2000 and 4000 words for which we’ll pay 6 cents per word. Submissions will be accepted from 3/3/2014 until 4/3/2014.  Unsolicited stories received outside this time frame will be deleted unread. Please include a cover letter with your submission and only one story at a time.  No reprints.  Simultaneous submissions will be accepted as long as you tell us up front (and immediately withdraw the story if you sell somewhere else). All submissions must be emailed as an RTF file to Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon at [email protected]. Submitters:  Familiarize yourself with Alliteration Ink’s crowdfunding policy before submitting:  http://alliterationink.com/policies.html#crowdfunding Good luck! Via: Alliteration Ink.

Deadline: April 15, 2014 or when filled Payment: $30 and a contributor copy What we are looking for: 1. We are looking for unusual, original stories that, in some way, shape, or form involve motorcycles and/or their riders, surroundings, etc. Perhaps the entire story revolves around a particular motorcycle and/or its rider. Maybe a motorcycle is important to the setting or the background, maybe it’s just passing through... While motorcycles or their elements must figure into the piece, the actual degree of involvement in the story… well, we’ll leave that up to you. If you want an idea of what we like, check out one of our favorite motorcycle-themed stories, Julio Cortazar’s “The Night Face Up.” 2. The above mentioned stories are just ideas. We want to see what you come up with, so show us your creative best. Stories can be dark fantasy, horror, magic realism, literary, etc. Humor is okay, too. What we want, more than anything, is a good, solid story—stores that touch us, as readers, in some way. We love stories that are written from an unusual perspective, contain unusual but believable characters, or show us something we’ve never seen before. We don’t mind sex or blood—not even a bit—but we are not huge fans of excessive gore. If it is necessary to the story, no problem at all—we get that. Gore for gore’s sake... not so much. 3. A word about word count: We are accepting stories from 1000—5000 words, with the majority of stories probably falling in 2000-5000 word range. We are pretty flexible with word count as long as it’s a great story. Impress us and even if you are a little over or a little under, we will sneak you in.4. We much prefer original stories but if you have a reprint...

Deadline: April 18th 2014 Payment: 3% of Revenue from both ebook and print edition sales. Twit Publishing is currently accepting submissions for its next anthology, Twit Publishing Presents: NINJAS! Important: **Deadline for Submissions is 04/18/2014** NINJAS! Twit Publishing will be producing a collection of short stories, poems, history, essays, novellas, non-fiction, and instructional essays about NINJAS! for an anthology coming out in 2014. Future Ninjas, past Ninjas, present Ninjas, Ninjas fighting fascist states, Ninjas in the Old West, Ninjas fighting dinosaurs, Ninjas fighting Vikings, Ninjas fighting werewolves, etc. and so on, and so forth. In short, Ninjas being bad#@*es. Please make sure everything that you send is well-written. Please send your work to [email protected] Compensation: 3% of Revenue from both ebook and print edition sales. Submission Guidelines Word length: no restriction. All content submitted to Twit Publishing for PULP! anthologies must be solely owned by the creator. Additionally, all content must be original. Stories must be submitted by the author(s), and not a 3rd party. Please submit as a .DOC or .RTF file. Please send a short author’s bio along with any submission. Do not send any story pitches or ideas. **They will be deleted without being read**. **Submissions from authors in the United States only** Email submissions to: [email protected] Subject line of email should read as the author’s name and title of submitted story.

Deadline: April 20th, 2013 Payment: $10 per story   Each monthly flash fiction call has a theme. We ask you to write an SFF story (SciFi, Fantasy, Horror, or related sub-genres) that fits the theme in some way. You’ll find a list of upcoming themes below. Please only submit a story for a particular theme during that theme’s submission period. Stories submitted during the wrong submission period will be deleted unread. Though this is a flash fiction contest, we’re still looking for stories with a strong narrative arc. We want stories that introduce us to character, world, and conflict in the opening 1-2 graphs. (Conflict isn’t just a fight, by the way.) We want a middle free of too much backstory; we want forward momentum. Last, we want an ending the resolves the plot, directly or subtly. We only want stories between 500 and 1,000 words, inclusive. We pay a flat rate of $10 per story, regardless of length. Now, without further ado, let’s showcase the themes, shall we? Unthemed - (+) Writers may submit any flash fiction story of 500-1000 words which has elements of speculative fiction (SF, Fantasy, Horror, or related genres). No themes or restrictions!   Send your submission in an email to kazkasubsgmail.com. Attach your file to the email. Don’t forget to include your cover letter in the body of the email. Subject Line: Flash Fiction Contest (e.g. “Flash Fiction Contest ” for the ‘Sax & Violins’ prompt). Imprecise subject lines may result in lost submissions. Here are the rules and details. Word Count: We’re looking for a piece of flash fiction that is between 500 and 1000 words long. Thus: 499 < YOUR STORY < 1,001 We won’t publish stories north or south of this mark. Deadline: At midnight, as the 20th rolls into the 21st in California, we’ll stop accepting submissions for...

Deadline: April 30, 2014 Payment: 5 cents per word; 2.5 cents per word for reprints Guidelines for Spellbound & Spindles The guidelines below are for a special issue of Spellbound—a children’s fantasy e-zine for 8-12 year olds—and Spindles—a companion adult anthology. Both anthologies will feature fairy tales retold to feature POC, LGBT and disabled characters, as well as non-Western European and non-North American settings.  We are looking for poetry and fiction, as well as artwork for both books.  Detailed guidelines are below. Please note: Spindles is NOT an erotica anthology.  Also, the emphasis on diversity and fairy tale retellings outlined in the paragraph above applies to all the content we’ll be publishing: fiction, poetry and artwork. What do we mean by fairy tales?  A general definition of the term “fairy tale” is hard to come by, and often one has to fall back on the old, “You know it when you see it.”  However, we’re relying on the Aarne-Thompson classification list for the bulk of our source material.  This is not a definitive list, and there may be fairy tales that aren’t there.  However, it is a good starting point.  When in doubt, feel free to ask.  Note, however, fairy tales for the purpose of these anthologies does not include: mythology, fables, riddles or nursery rhymes. We are now open to submissions.  The reading period runs from October 1, 2013 to April 30, 2014. All submissions sent during the reading period will get a response. Fiction Fiction Editor: Raechel Henderson Spellbound word limit = 2,500 Spindles word limit = 5,000 Payment = 5 cents per word; 2.5 cents per word for reprints Rights bought: First World English-language Rights Multiple submissions welcome No simultaneous submissions Stories should follow the standard fairy tale structure, but can be placed in any time period. We’ll only be publishing one version of each story...

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: The elevator doors open, the lights are flickering, the gurney is wheeled into a dank, dimly-lit hallway well below ground. Does the Doctor have the patient's best interests at heart, or is something more nefarious going on? How does the staff figure out what treatments are most effective and which are not? In our other two Mental Ward collections, we asked you to tell us what happened above ground in the institute itself; what memories of the past were trapped in the abandoned hallways; now we're asking you to tell us what goes on behind closed doors. The secret experiments that are feared and whispered about among the patients. Tell us what greed, the corruption of power, and the desire to be remembered will drive a Doctor to do the unthinkable to the unfortunate patients left in their care. Tell your tale from whatever perspective you'd like, just make sure the story you tell is a depraved one. Submission Deadline: April 30, 2014 Word Count minimum: 4,000 words - nothing less will be reviewed; no reprints considered. Please submit your manuscript as a *.doc or *.docx file (all other formats will automatically be rejected. Contact us prior to submitting if this presents an issue for you.) Font and formatting: Please submit in Times New Roman, 12 point font; single line spacing with a 0 point definition above and below each line. Please format the document to 1st line indentation of .5" (1.27cm), do not space or tab to indent the line. The page margin should be set to .5" (1.27cm) on all sides. Graphic gore must be kept to a minimum unless it is integral to the story; absolutely no incestuous or sexual abuse storylines will be considered. Only stories previously unpublished may be submitted....

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: £10.00 for the first 5,000 words, then 0.2p per word on publication, plus a copy of the book Following the critical success of The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic, the submission window for Urban Mythic 2 is now open. We are seeking contemporary tales with all the magic and wonder of myth and legend, blending modern life with the traditions of folklore from around the world. Whether lurking in dark alleys or brash shopping malls, ensconced in upscale riverside penthouse lofts or humble suburban semis, we want to see the fantastic woven into the everyday. We want fiction that entertains but also pushes beyond the usual urban fantasy boundaries – action, folk tales re-imagined, mythic creatures adapting to the urban environment – be it noir, humour, dark, literary or light, there must be a recognisable mythic thread. Fully realised characters are a must and solid plots extremely desirable. What we don’t want: secondary worlds, steampunk, SF, zombies, human sacrifice, magic help-lines, paranormal romance love-triangles, erotica, religion, gore, and absolutely no poetry. Read this interview with the editors, JAN EDWARDS and JENNY BARBER, to gain an insight into their preferences. Electronic submissions only to Jan Edwards and Jenny Barber at [email protected]. Send manuscript as an email attachment in standard manuscript format (in RTF/doc/docx). Both the email subject line and the manuscript file name must include:submissions – title – author’s name – word count (e.g., Submissions – My Great Story – Jane Doe – 5000 words). Full contact details must be included on the manuscript’s front/first page as well as in the email. Submission window closes 30 April 2014. No acceptances/rejections will be made until after this date. We are seeking original fiction between 3,000 and 8,000 words. Payment is £10.00 for the first 5,000 words, then 0.2p per word on publication, plus a copy of the...

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: Royalty Sharing The names of certain scientific pioneers and geniuses are known to us all. Enrico Fermi, Thomas Edison, Marie Curie, Guglielmo Marconi and so many others dedicated their lives to improving the lot of their fellows through the power of their minds and their belief in their dreams. But what if these icons of science had chosen, instead, to turn their awesome intellect to evil pursuits and heinous ends? How might our world have been changed from what it is now to what they might have engineered it to be? Alternate Worlds: Evil Genius is an anthology intended for the contributing writers to take one of these stellar intellects and imagine them in a sinister role instead. Was Bell's telephone originally a covert listening device? Was Morse's telegraph used to contact secret alien strongholds? Were Einstein and Oppenheimer actually under contract to the Mafia? Will you take up the challenge and tell us? General Submission Guidelines We will not publish stories containing sexual content involving minors in any way; other than that, the only boundaries are your imagination! Sexual content unnecessary to the storyline is discouraged unless you are submitting an erotic story for consideration. Gore for the sake of gore or simply included for shock value in a piece is discouraged as well, and will most likely not garner our attention unless it is necessary to support the storyline. Other Guidelines: We work on a percentage sharing scale with our authors; details will be discussed after submissions are approved. Anthologies are a 'royalties sharing' market, we do not pay in advance for stories. Submissions should be sent as attachments to your email, not copied into the body of the message. Attachments should be in *.doc or *.docx format. Font details: Times New Roman,...

Deadline: April 30th 2014 Payment: $20 and 2 free books Spider Road Press invites submissions of unpublished short stories of no more than 8,000 words with strong female characters to "Eve’s Requiem: Five Tales of Women, Crime and Horror." This anthology will be published by Spider Road Press in late 2014. Men and women are welcome to submit. We are looking for literary, intense stories in which women actively face dangerous situations. We seek tales in which the plot strengthens the characterization. Any use of violence should be integral to the story (no gore). Writers will only be invited to submit one story each. Submissions will be accepted March 1- April 30. Contributors will be paid $20 and 2 free books. 5% of the proceeds from this anthology will be donated to charity. Simultaneous submissions are fine. (We regret that we cannot consider reprints, Science Fiction, YA fiction or prose poems. Please do not submit stories involving vampires or werewolves.) Please be aware that it could take us up to three months to respond to your submission. We look forward to reading your fiction! Beginning on 3/1/14, writers can submit via Submittable Here. . Via: Spider Road Press.

Deadline: April 30th, 2014 Payment: We will pick one winner who will receive a £15/$20 Amazon voucher and have their story published in the summer issue of Massacre Magazine. Do you like a challenge? Can you write short and snappy horror? Why not enter our summer flash fiction contest? Take a look at the photograph below… Now, write a story in no more than 250 words, drawing inspiration from the photo. Remember, we are looking for horror, the strange, the weird and worrisome, the macabre and mysterious. When done, paste your story directly into the CONTACT form in the top menu. Please add SUMMER CONTEST to the ‘Subject’ line. Closing date is 30th April 2014. We will pick one winner who will receive a £15/$20 Amazon voucher and have their story published in the summer issue of Massacre Magazine. Our decision is final, any moaners will be mangled. To see our previous winners, click HERE Good luck! Via: Massacre Publishing.